Tag Archives: Christmas

Yes, We Made it Home

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I didn’t write yesterday … there was really no time (as you’ll read later). But we made it home safely.

We rose at 5:30, hoping to get out of the area in time to avoid flooding. Packed and in the car and checking out at 6:20, we were then on the road. It was just barely sprinkling when we began. We were grateful.

But then rain did get heavier. Not killer “we can’t drive in this” heavy, but still, we knew it meant watching out for flooding on the road. Getting to the top of the spot between Death Valley and Panamint Valley there were rock slides. No boulders to speak of, but very large rocks that Dan had to avoid, driving in whichever lane was clearest.

As we headed down to Panimint Valley we could see water at the edges of the road that were headed down. Near the bottom, we saw the start of that flow and it was clear that it would land at the bottom and pool. I hadn’t really understood just how roads got so quickly flooded. Now I do.


Videos don’t really do it justice, but I’ll still post a few …


Dan then had to be careful for the drive for quite some time. Reaching parts of the road that were flooded (shallow, mind you … not something he couldn’t get through), Dan would slow and carefully drive through. As he mentioned later, you don’t know what’s under the water as you can’t see that.

Driving through Trona a whole lot of the road was flooded. That was a bit of a surprise … they must just accept the flooding and not work on guiding water elsewhere.

For this trip we went through Ridgecrest so we could get breakfast. That city, too, was quite flooded already. But we made our way to Starbucks (have I mentioned that these kinds of trips are the only time we enter Starbucks? And never in Europe. Nope. Isn’t gonna happen!)

Next up was getting to Tehachapi, where we’d fill the tank.

Except.

The freeway — if it’s called a freeway up there? — we were to take to there was closed! In our day of phones with maps and guidance systems we could fortunately find another route somewhat easily. Waze and Google maps gave the same directions while Apple maps gave different ones. It was two to one — Waze and Google won. It wasn’t a direct route … we had to go a distance and eventually ended up on the Grapevine. But we made it.

The Grapevine was slow moving, but at least it was moving. (I later read that the day before it was a total mess due to accidents.)

From there it was “easy” (as in Dan knows what to do) and eventually rain diminished. We did take a Buttonwillow bathroom break. And there we saw something … um … words can’t desscribe, really. (Excuse the blur.)

Finally, we even saw blue sky and the green was lovely to see … what I think of as “Spring green” was right there in December!

And we saw a rainbow.

So the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, but what a LONG day. We arrived home at 4:00, and had a Christmas Eve dinner reservation at 5:00, so we had just enough time to unpack the car and get changed.

And dinner was lovely.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Decorated House & Off We Go!

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Yes, we’ve decorated our house for Christmas. We even did a bit more than many recent years because our whole family will be here come January 2 to help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. (FIFTY years?! How in the world did that happen? No pretending I’m 49, I guess.)

This year I used the ornaments we put up when the kids were … well … kids! Things they made, or things my mother bought us as each child was born, and lots of bikes because Dan was an avid cyclist back then. It was fun to unpack them all and enjoy them once again! I know the kids will crack up at some of their hand crafted works of art. (Hint: macaroni glued on paper, anyone?)

But of course a decorated house doesn’t mean we are necessarily not going anywhere, right? (If we weren’t I wouldn’t be posting here right now!)

So yes, we are packing for a very short trip to Death Valley. The timing worked well: a friend who is playing Nutcracker in San Jose can use our house rather than dealing with a two hour (or more) drive each way to get to and from the hall, and we have a house sitter. I know my friend is looking forward to the stay: our area has fabulous decorations … people drive here to see them. So she and her husband and daughter can enjoy those as a special little treat, and we can enjoy knowing our house is inhabited while we visit Death Valley.

Oh … and she can enjoy some Clementine mandarin oranges while they are here as well. The tree is bursting with them!


Christmas Day

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After we stood in quite the long line for our coffees and bread of choice (I think Dan had a croissant. I know I had a brioche.) we sat and enjoyed our treats. We get vouchers for each day we are here, but so does everyone else in the hotel. I’m not sure Mille Fuelle was prepared for the crowd that showed up nearly all at once.

After going back up to our room and dressing warmly we went out and the flexible goal was to get to Bryant Park, because I had read its Christmas market was open today, and it appeared all the others weren’t. So off we went, on a little over two mile walk.

And Lisa HIrsch, this one’s for you!:

At the same time, Brandon was on his way down from his place, and shortly after we arrived at the Christmas market he did as well.

As to the Christmas market: it just doesn’t have the magical feel that, for instance, the Nürnberg one did. Plus, as Dan pointed out, it’s so different when you can’t buy gluhwein and walk around with that.

But since Brandon connected with us we left that spot and aimed toward Grand Central Station, just to have a look-see. (Yes, we’ve been there before, but it’s still fun to see it.)

More walking as we were deciding where to get a bite.

We had a bit of food and drinks at PJ Clarks.

Then it was time to get back to the hotel to gather up some things before going to the Bronx. Our walk back included a bit of Central Park.

Brandon suggested getting a car to get to Jameson and Meghan’s and I was quite fine with that. Yes, it costs more, but sometime it’s just the easiest thing to do.

Jameson and Meghan had food set out when we arrived, and we sat for a good amount of time eating and drinking. Oh … and watching (sort of) White Christmas.

Eventually Trivial Pursuit came out. I’m really not great at that game — especially anything in sports or geography. And I didn’t win. Hats off to Lia!

Then it was another car home. The roads are fairly empty and the drive both ways was so much faster than it frequently is. So now we are back in our room, and we plan on a very slow and easy morning because later on we have much to do. It will be the final full day for this trip. Sad, but true.

And now … goodnight!

The Rest of the Story

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Sooo … now that I’m awake it’s time to write about last night before I forget!

We took the subway (the 1 and the Q in case you are curious — and even if you aren’t) to get to Timothy and Margaret’s. Really about the easiest bit of train use ever as the timing was pretty good. A wee bit of confusion at one point, but only because there were signs in different places for the Q. But we arrived at their lovely house in Brooklyn safe and as sound as we are capable of being.

What a spread those two put out! We ate so very well. We met two new friends as well: Aron (Aaron?) is from Turkey and studying here and I’m absolutely amazed (and humbled) by his English, as he didn’t speak English when he arrived. We also met a friend of Brandon and Lia’s, Mathilda. (I could be misspelling her name as well.) I think, if I heard correctly, she is from Italy. So the table was full. So was my heart. It had been a while since I’d seen my brother and sister-in-law.

Oh the food! They made salmon in what I would describe as a loaf, but I don’t know if that’s really how it’s described. Soooo yummy!

After dinner we sat in the living room (or do they call it a parlor?) and exchanged gifts. That, too, was great fun.

And just like that it was after midnight. Meghan, Jameson, Dan, and I shared a Lyft. We were dropped off first, and then they headed up to the Bronx.

Today Dan and I will do some wandering before we go up to Meghan and Jameson’s to meet with them, Lia and Brandon.

December 19, Part Two

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Sooo … we got settled and went out. Um … HELLO?! What is this wet stuff? We had to go back into our room and collect our raincoats. We had no idea it was raining, because I’d closed the shutters. Oops!

So then we went out yet again, and walked toward the opera house. It’s amazing to think they perform eighteen operas a year. Crazy! We do four. SF Opera has cut back to six.

The rain, though, was getting heavier, so we quickly went in to a local spot and had coffee and cake. Not healthy, but hey, it’s vacation! (Of course the rain then stopped.)

After that we walked some more. The person at the hotel desk had said something about the crowds. Little did we know!! It is absolutely insane here. Who knew? Certainly not us!

We finally went into Mercado de San Miguel to have a tapas and vermut. Big yum. And great memories of the first time we visited Madrid.

Then more walking. And the crowds became even more insane. (To the point of, “Is this really even safe?!”)

And then there was this (this should be a video, but I’m not certain it is loading. Maybe later …?):

Eventually we decided to get dinner before the crowds did. It appears they don’t eat until 9:00. Too late for me, for sure. We chose an Argentinian spot that said it was 19.90€ for a full meal including a drink and dessert.

We sat down, and the menu said 175€. Um. REALLY?!?! Turns out we had to go to the bar area for our deal. Which we did. We aren’t interested in a huge, more meat than you can eat, meal. (At home we don’t even eat meat!) Nor do we need a fancy table. So we moved, apologizing to the people there (but I’ll just bet they are used to this), and placed our order. Even with the smaller, less costly meal, we couldn’t finish. SO much food! TOO much, actually. I think tapas work better for me.

After finishing we had to find our way back to the hotel. My phone navigation system wasn’t working at all (my phone barely worked earlier as well). Turns out I was on something called “Movie Star” rather than the typical “Oxygen” service. Now really … I know I appear a bit like a movie star, but this was a bit much. I’m glad, though, that I figured out the problem

So now we are back in our room. I’m hoping to sleep tonight, but these late meals do make it a challenge, so we shall see how it goes.

Buenas noches!